3:11a

It may be better to begin a new sentence here. For example:

God did this according to his eternal purpose. (Good News Translation)

The word “this” in the Good News Translation (and in the Display of 3:11a) refers to 3:9b–10b. That is, it refers to God’s plan to save mankind, both Gentiles and Jews.

according to the eternal purpose: Here the word eternal refers primarily to the past not the future. So the phrase eternal purpose means that God had planned (to save Gentiles and Jews) from eternity past or from the beginning. He planned it before he created the world.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

eternal plan (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
God’s plan for all of history (God’s Word)
-or-
the purpose God had since the beginning of time (New Century Version)

3:11b

that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord: The word accomplished means “to get something done.” God accomplished or achieved his plan through Christ Jesus.

in Christ Jesus our Lord: Another way to express this is that God accomplished his plan by means of what Christ has done.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

because of all that Christ Jesus our Lord had done (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord (New Living Translation (2004))

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